historylass
sallyduchessPet Words - and How to Get Rid of Them
October 18th 2006 23:51
We all have pet words when we write. You know, those words that seem to consistently come up in whatever you are writing. I know I have at least five, that I need to pay attention to. I believe everyone has at least one pet word. You may know what it is. You may not. But don't be under the illusion that just because you can't see any pet words of your own, that you don't have any. You may not see them, but your readers certainly will.
Using pet words is okay, in moderation. After all, it's part of our style. But it's when those pet words keep coming up that it begins to get annoying for the reader. Nothing jars quite as much as seeing the same word repeated over and over again.
Everyone should know what their pet words are. You probably already have a fair idea. If you don't, try writing for ten minutes freestyle and circle any words that occur more than three times. (Ignore common words that will generally be used a lot, like a, the and it.) Try doing a search for words to see how many times you use them. You can also get someone else to read your work. Other people are more likely to pick up on your pet words.
Now that you know what your pet words are, you need to start getting rid of some of them. You don't need to get rid of them all, but try to remove as many as possible. Try rephrasing sentences so that your pet word isn't necessary. Get a good thesaurus and find synonyms for your words. Use the find button on your word processing package to see how many times a certain word is used.
Using pet words is okay, in moderation. After all, it's part of our style. But it's when those pet words keep coming up that it begins to get annoying for the reader. Nothing jars quite as much as seeing the same word repeated over and over again.
Everyone should know what their pet words are. You probably already have a fair idea. If you don't, try writing for ten minutes freestyle and circle any words that occur more than three times. (Ignore common words that will generally be used a lot, like a, the and it.) Try doing a search for words to see how many times you use them. You can also get someone else to read your work. Other people are more likely to pick up on your pet words.
Now that you know what your pet words are, you need to start getting rid of some of them. You don't need to get rid of them all, but try to remove as many as possible. Try rephrasing sentences so that your pet word isn't necessary. Get a good thesaurus and find synonyms for your words. Use the find button on your word processing package to see how many times a certain word is used.
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Comment by Harmony Rocks
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Comment by historylass
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Comment by Wendi
Naturally, there are more, but that's my worst. The funny thing is, I don't even like that word and for as well spoken as I like to think I am, I trip over that word every time I try to say it out loud. I'm not sure where I picked it up or why it keeps appearing in my writing, but it often falls victim to the delete key during the editing process.
Once again, sound advice well distributed!!!
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